Dolly Parton is considering selling her back catalogue

In a new interview with Music Week, Dolly Parton has revealed that she is considering selling her back catalogue of songs, but revealed that she would "still have some control, no matter who I sold to, and my credit for the songs."

Parton's discussion about her back catalogue comes after numerous veteran singer/songwriters have made the deicison to sell their catalogues in response to the lack of income throughout 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this week, Bob Dylan sold his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal in a reported nine-figure deal. Universal acquired around 600 tracks from across six decades of Dylan's career, from 1962's "Blowin' In The Wind" to this year's "Murder Most Foul".

Speaking to Music Week, Parton revealed that she's spent the past few years getting her affairs in order, after being worried by reports of famous people passing away and leaving their mourning families to sort out their assets. She said, "That’s taken several years to do, and it is really a hard thing to do and put it all in order. But you have to do it, you don’t want to be simply leaving a mess behind."

Parton currently owns her own catalogue, which is licensed to Sony/ATV. Speaking about what she's been considering, Parton said, "I’ve owned my own publishing company for years and years and, as an active songwriter, I still write all the time. It’s very possible that, for business reasons, estate planning, and family things, I might sell the catalogue I have now. I’ve often thought about it, and I’m sure that I could get a lot of money for it. But then I would just start a brand new one, continue writing songs and, when I build that up again, sell it."

The country legend continued, "I would imagine I’d have quite a bit of money if I wanted to sell, but I would still have some control, no matter who I sold to, and my credit for the songs. There’s a lot to be said about that. As a songwriter, I never cared about the money. I did make money, but I always just wanted my name on my songs."